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Huerta brings strong message to Hispanics

El Paso Times Editorial Board

Posted:
10/19/2013 12:00:00 AM MDT

While here Wednesday, nationally recognized civil rights leader Dolores Huerta had strong messages for Hispanics that should be heeded. She spoke about the strong force Hispanics represent in this country, both as workers and voters.

Huerta has been a strong advocate for farm workers. While in El Paso, she also emphasized the importance of young Hispanics getting involved and becoming decision-makers in their communities.

She was the keynote speaker and an honoree at El Paso Community College's Hispanic Heritage Lifetime Achievement Awards banquet.

El Paso is an ideal city for Huerta's message. As a city, we are more than 80 percent Hispanic and struggle with issues related to joblessness. But it also appears that we have a strong generation of bright, young Hispanics destined to be the leaders of the future.

Huerta's appearance came on the eve of Congress finally ending the long government shutdown.

And with that out of the way, President Barack Obama, as he promised, urged Congress to get back to the serious business of reforming our immigration system, for both humane and economic reasons.

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Two issues are at odds with one another. As the younger Hispanics here are getting better educations, and better jobs, the migrant workforce is aging, and therefore decreasing. There are reports throughout the agriculture industry that farmers are letting crops rot in the field because, in some cases, the migrant work force is down 50 percent.

This is where Huerta's expertise lies; she has been at this business of advocating for social justice for more than four decades.

While here, Huerta pointed out that strength in numbers has made Hispanics a force at the ballot box, but that, "We're at a critical point in our United States of America now. Because we're 52 million, we're going to play a big role in which way the United States is going to go."

She said Hispanics must repel anti-immigrant feelings because that sentiment is becoming more and more evident in recent years.

In El Paso, both U.S. and Mexico citizens have lived in harmony for well over a century.

It wasn't until 9/11 that ramped up border security made entry into this country more difficult. We can serve as a model city since many here have relatives and close friends on the other side of the border. Many also hold jobs on the other side of the border, mainly due to the maquiladora industry.

We would hope that as Congress restarts its immigration reform talks that people like Huerta are asked to serve as advisors.

She has a wealth of knowledge and more experience in these matters than virtually anyone else in the nation.